In the Mailbox?

This morning I tested out the new shoes again. I walked down the driveway wearing my old asics and carrying my new shoes. I stashed the new shoes in the mailbox and then ran down and back up my road.


When I reached my driveway, I switched shoes and set out again down the road. I felt the same knee and IT band pain after just a few steps and it only intensified as I ran. Sadly I think these new shoes are going to have to be returned to the store.

3.2 miles at 8:08 pace

Today I am off to Blueberry pick with my mom! And tomorrow I am going on a 10 mile run! The cooler temperatures in the morning have been nice (60F) but the humidity is still pretty high!

Have a great weekend! YAY it's Friday!

Shoes and Books

Yesterday was Tempo at the Track Tuesday

2 mile warm up
1.5 mile @ easy
3x 5 minutes at Tempo with 2 mins recovery jog
2 mile cool down

The goal tempo pace was 7:15 min/mile but I exceeded that and averaged a 7 min/mile pace. The second set was my fastest where I almost made it three laps around the track in 5 minutes. The final set was the toughest where my legs felt dead but I didn't drop off the pace too much which was a first. Every time I would pass the coach on my recovery jog, he would pull me aside and talk to me about something - form, training, XC running. I am not sure how I feel about XC running - I swore I would never do it again after completing a XC race called Tour de Pain in the summer of 2005!


Second pair of new shoes bought and this time they actually made it out of the box and onto my feet. The guy at the running store suggested Saucony shoes for both Brian and I. He said that they have a wider toe box and more heel support. Brian ran in his during the race last weekend and loved them.


I did a quick 2 miles this morning with the new shoes (ProGrid Triumph 7) and felt intense IT band pain. Of course this could have been caused because I was running just 10 short hours after completing the track workout. Or it could be the shoes. I plan to test them out again Friday and see what happens.


I finally broke down and paid the 50 cents my library required to place a hold on a book in order to request Run Faster by Brad Hudson. This book has a ton of good stuff in it! It is like a mini running gold mine! The one thing I found the most important out of everything was the concept of hill sprints.


"...These brief, maximal-intensity efforts against gravity offer two key benefits. First, they strengthen all of the running muscles, making you much less injury-prone. They also increase the power and efficiency of your stride, enabling you to cover more ground with each stride with less energy in races..." (Full article from RunningTimes HERE thanks to the Running Laminator)

The key is to do start small, doing 1-2 hill sprints (on a hill of 6-8% grade) of 8-10 seconds after a regularly scheduled easy run. Seems pretty simple - might be worth giving it a try and I know I have plenty of hills around me so that shouldn't be a problem!

I also checked out American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield which is supposed to be a fictionalized account of the life of Former First Lady Laura Bush. The whole time I was reading the book, I just couldn't relate the main character of Alice to Laura. For a great book review, click HERE. I really enjoyed reading this book, even though it was 558 pages long!

Happy reading and running!!

Ten Ugly Men 5k Recap

Thank you so much for all the comments on the running skirt post!! Every comment was so nice and really made my day!

Saturday was a warm day. I don't remember exactly how hot it got, but the meteorologists had been predicting a high of 90F. Fun.

I picked Brian up at 7:30am and we headed to the race which was taking place in a local park. Start time 9am. I ran this race two years ago so I knew the course but that really didn't make a difference.

After a super short warm up, we stood at the start and waited. We watched all the other people gathering at the start. There was the really tall, tan boy who shaved his legs. There was super skinny, super fast woman of two kids. There was my old college track teammates and also my new track club teammates.

I wanted to run well and fast. I did not account for the weather.

Soon enough we were off and running. We started on the park main road and then crossed over a bridge and made a loop back to the start. As we hit the bridge for the second time, I start getting passed by a lot of girls. I didn't think I was going that slow so I stayed at my pace and then I saw her. She was a high school soccer teammate of mine, and she just whizzed past me. I pretty much lost it from there. She had always been a better runner than me but I didn't think she was running races at all, I hadn't even talked to her since 2003.

I hit mile 1 at 6:34 and kept going. I thought I was doing great, right on pace but I was mentally losing it because I let that girl get to me. I let being passed get to me. We continued through the park and I just kept going slower and slower. Approaching a small hill I wanted to stop and walk. I wondered why was I out here running this race. Why was I doing this to myself?

I want to forget the rest of my splits from this race. I continued to run but I had no heart at all. I even let the girl pass me whom I had picked out pre-race as "the girl I must beat".

But what did I expect, right? I mean three races, in three weekends and I just thought I would be fine. I never let my body fully recover with all the races and then the tough Tuesday track workouts with the club.

It's a good lesson to learn, plus I just need to get my butt in gear and start training harder. I also think I don't race well in heat but really who does?

The rest of Saturday was spent consuming food and water. And I ate too much so Sunday I went out for a run to shake out kinks and get myself over the race. It worked because I felt better and I let everything go.

This morning's run was also good. A bright full moon greeted me as I started my run and I enjoyed being out in the cool morning.

Happy Monday!!


Run Like a Mother has an amazing post today. I strongly suggest reading it HERE.

New Running Gear

Every time I go to a race, I always see women in running skirts and I really wanted to try one out! Nicole from RunnerNic was nice enough to send me a running skirt that she had that she wasn't using! Thanks so much Nicole!! When I got it in the mail I was so excited to try it! I would have taken pictures pre-run but this morning it was so dark out.

A little sweaty...

So I ran in the skirt this morning and I really liked it. This skirt has built in spandex shorts which was nice, they didn't ride up and I felt comfortable to whole run.

I did a fartlek run, as suggested by the coach from the track workout on Tuesday. My legs were still a little tight from the track but the burst of speed made this run very enjoyable.
I ran 15 x 1 minute fartleks with 30 seconds fast, 30 seconds medium easy.

Below is a picture of (one pair of) my current running shoes, men's Nimbus' (I also have women's 1150's). The men's shoes have almost 500 miles on them and are still going strong, the women's have 250 miles and feel like they are dying. I have always run in Asics but I am thinking of switching. Over the weekend I went to the local running store and tried on a bunch of shoes. I ended up buying a pair of Brooks but then returned them last night because I am afraid to switch. What kind of shoes do you run in? Why do you like them?


Saturday Brian and I are running in another 5k! Happy Thursday (almost the weekend!!)

I like the pain

Good Morning! It's Wednesday!

Last night I went to the running club's track workout. I knew the workout ahead of time, I knew it would be a lot of mileage but I didn't think it would be that bad.

All day I was nervous but once I changed into my running clothes, I felt calmer and ready to go. I arrived, spoke with the coach who introduced me to another runner who was joining the group for the first time. We stuck together for the whole workout and I was so happy to have someone to run with who was my pace!

The workout:
2.15 mile warm up
4x400m with 400m recovery
5 minutes rest
2000m at Tempo Pace
2x Kenyan Surge Drill
2.15 mile cool down
Total mileage: 8.8 miles!

The 400s were great, we had a nice little group all aiming for 90 seconds.
400m in 90 secs - oh yeah this pace is great, I could do this all day!
400m in 93 secs - I paced this one, went out too slow
400m in 88 secs - thats a little better
400m in 85 secs - really fast, can't breath!

The 2000m at tempo really wasn't at tempo pace but I just thought of it as more working on endurance. Once we finished that we had 30 seconds rest before going into the Kenyan surge drill -

30 secs interval pace
30 secs easy
60 sec interval pace
60 sec easy
120 secs interval pace
120 sec easy

This drill was so tough after everything else. We skipped out on the last 120 secs of the second set because we were just dying. Finally it was time for the cool down, which we took nice and slow!

Although painful, I absolutely loved running last night! It was nice to have girls to chat with while running! After the workout, I drove home and proceeded to raid the refrigerator, which I regretted about 20 minutes later when I was laying in the fetal position on the floor. Note to self - Do not eat anything with mayo in or on it after a hard workout!

This morning I woke up feeling better, which was a relief and now I am just enjoying the day! Enjoy the day!